Keith's November Newsletter

H-h-hi F-f-folks. Man it’s cold! Who said it could get this cold? I think we need to have a word with the manager!

Couple of days late with the newsletter this month. As the subtitle suggests I have been working working working, so not much time for fun stuff. Those damn bills do keep rolling in don’t they.

All Work And No Play Makes Keith A Zzz Zzzzz.

As I say, this month I have been mostly doing work, with some sleeping and I side of job hunting/job interviewing along the way. No specific news on that front yet, but maybe next month I’ll have something to share with you.

The only thing I got to do that was proper work related (ie. writing) was go to a talk at Leeds Library about fantasy worlds and world building, where I got to see RJ Barker and Adrian Tchaikosky speak.

It was an interesting talk, but I’m afraid that being in the middle of a week of night shifts I was unable to participate as much as I would like. I didn’t get to say much to Adrian Tchaikovsky apart from a quick thank you on the way out the door. But I’m glad I went. Hopefully next time something like this happens I can be a little more compus mentus.

News From The Steam Factory

After the rush of Glunda stuff last month, this month has been a little quieter. I’ve been working on an outline for Attack Mars!!, which means I was finally able to turn this…

into something typed and legible. I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but I do have the bones of the story, which is the hard part. Now all it needs is decoration. Compared to working out flow and motivation and all that, the decdoration is a piece of cake. But I can’t do that now. I’ve had to set it aside in favour of something else.

Right now I am intensely working on the synopsis, outline, and first few chapters of The Cunning Cogitations Of Monsieur Leclair. There’s a agency-run competition for which the closing date is the 7th of December, and if I win that I win a chunk of cash and possible representation, so it’s all hands on deck to get my submission ready in time. It doesn’t help that I haven’t written ANY of the actual story yet, but I have most of next week off, a clear idea of what to do, and a can-do attitude, so I’m confident of getting something in to them in time. Wish me luck.

When I’m Not Writing

I finished AC Valhalla. I can’t say I liked the ending. When it came to it I was just glad it was over, which isn’t what you want really. Perhaps that’s why I went on a sudden game-spending spree a few weeks ago.

I bought, like, ten new games, some of which are listed above. Once I realised I had a new PC on which I could play all the latest games there was no stopping me! I’ll be able to tell you more about them as the months go by but for the moment I will say “Yay” to Dredge and “Nay” to The Stanley Parable. The first is simple, low-key and enjoyable, whereas the second is unsatifying in ways I can’t explain. I’m glad I played it (twice) but I won’t be playing it again.

As an aside, the game Heartbound is by the people at Pirate Software, which is my new favourite watch on YouTube. This dude Thor does daily dev streams where he explains about making games and the games industry, and whilst it’s not something I plan on doing myself (although never say never) his easy-going attitude and all round positivity is such a vibe I could watch it all day. Check him out of you get the chance. I highly recommend it.

Speaking of YouTube, my Instagram launch of Glunda was such a disaster (no sound) that I made a video of me reading the first few chapters and put it up for all to see. Give it a go if you like. You’ll also find the launch videos I did for Dexter & Sinister on there as well, although I don’t recommend watching them lol. They’re so bad it makes me cringe watching them again. And I saw so proud at the time too, hahaha.

Okay, that’s all my news for now. Have a lovely Christmas everyone!

Toodle-pip for now.

Keith